WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY 2012

Happy Sunday! I'm going on vacation soon to an all-inclusive resort. I'm looking for strategies to keep my weight gain to a minimum while still enjoying all the good food and drinks :drinker: I'm hoping all of you can give me some suggestions.

Oh good, I'm not the only one that has to lose more and over 50. :laugh: I'm skinny10 and continuing my goal from 2 1/2 years ago. I was 320 lbs and lost 135 lbs then I gained 30 over the holidays since Thanksgiving. :embarassed: Wow, jaks, she looks so-o good, congratulations to whoever that is. I have been so stressed out because I had a couple of surgeries where I wasn't allowed to walk, stand, or exercise for three months. Now that I'm back in school and walking but not exercising which I'm going to start again on Tuesday after the holiday tomorrow. I have a membership with the school I go to and I've been instructed to start slowly and work my way up. I will workout 4 days a week, I'm going start 20-30 min a day.

I've been stressing out because I was forced to watch my brother eat and I got a little depressed about it. He's morbidly obese, it is the first time I've seen him this heavy in 10 years that I haven't seen him since 2001 when our parents passed on within months of each other. He realized something about me when I was the one morbidly obese for 15 years the last time we saw each other (2001), it runs in our father's family and he is learning to eat right by accepting what I buy. He lives with me and I was spoiling him by feeding him his favorite foods but I stopped 1 1/2 months ago because I told him I didn't like myself going in the wrong direction. So I started buying more healthy foods that I ate prior to when he moved in with me in August 2010. He couldn't believe how healthy I was and how I lost over 100+ lbs then he started thinking he was tired of being fat. I was hoping he admitted to himself. So now I have to set another example for him to find the right exercises for himself and start doing them.

I have always been there for my family and shown them how to stand on their own two feet in every phase of our lives because I wasn't afraid to stand up to ignorance. I feel good about myself and I learned how to modify my diet to accommodate several medical conditions I have. I couldn't understand why I couldn't follow through an exercise program when I was in denial that I had to find how to modify certain exercises by making certain changes in some of them to accommodate me. When I took a semester off (Fall 2011), I was unable to go grocery shopping and had to depend on my brother to do it but he didn't know how to shop healthy and I was forced to eat what he bought and ate. Now I'm able to go grocery shopping and cook, he has been willing to eat the same things I eat and do some of the cooking with the foods I buy. It's hard for me to do everything myself every day and I'm glad he's helping me.

I have one niece but no nephews and she has two sons, and also going to school. I encouraged her to take a nutrition class last semester and it changed her view and attitude about how she was feeding her family. She followed what I learned about nutrition and made some changes in a lot of her recipes and started doing an exercise program then realized that she felt better making some changes she had more energy to do more with her family. :happy: So women of our age can still influence our loved ones by example and I find it very true. Thanks for reading my post and I'll post sometime this week. I put a reminder on my forehead so I don't forget. :laugh:


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Hi ladies...Where has the weekend Gone ???

Virginia...you are the Poster Child for "Fab at 50"....you look beautiful...at least 15 years younger than your before picture! Congratulations...you are an inspiration!

Had a very fun evening at the Fundraiser. Did some dancing, food was pretty healthy, did imbibe in a couple of drinks...but that was okay too. Won a silent auction for a wine-tasting for 4 and a "wine & art" event for 2. That is where you go do something artsy and drink wine. Erin (my daughter) will probably do this with me...she is artsy ... I am not, so at least 50% of the outcome will be decent. Will most likely do the wine-tasting with hubby, Erin & her boyfriend. By the end of the night I had logged over 20,000 steps on my pedometer, and it recorded 10 bonus WW exercise points. I felt like the day was a success.

Finally the bathroom is back together, which means every other room on that end of the house is back together. Just need to find some sort of window treatment...but we've picked a color that might make it difficult. We'll see. Overall very happy with the end result of the bathroom update.

I told my husband this afternoon we need to book a long get-a-away weekend someplace, because we have just bee working our fannies off on weekends. When we go away, we are professional vacationers, and it is so nice to have no job list hanging around.

Have a healthy rest of the weekend...Monday is coming waaaaaaay to quickly.

MEG

virginia, you look AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an inspiration you are, thank you so much for sharing the pics.....i glad you are getting more hats the look lovely on you

I read the posts every day but I don't always respond. I do want you all to know that I enjoy getting to know you all, I'm just not very good at remembering everything so I can respond, even though I often think, I must remember that.

I had a good week work and exercise wise, not so great on the food and wine front though. I went X country skiing again today with the group I joined (3 1/2 hours this week and I am not dying), and the conditions were perfect! I skied with a woman who has bad knees and as a result, skied slower but better. I find I am really improving and didn't fall once, on the hills, though I did trip over my skis once and went down but that was mainly incompetence rather than fear of falling which is why I had been falling before. I am really loving this group....they are all so friendly and supportive.

@ mimi....I really loved Major Pettigrew's Last Stand as well.

@Virginia.....you look hot!!

Someone mentioned Meetup and I have joined a couple of book clubs through them. I love to read and it's nice to meet like minded people. Part of my personal journey is not only to lose weight but to make changes in my life to enrich it through new friendships so I am kind of working on myself on two fronts. A lot of my old friends have moved away, stayed stuck or changed directions in ways I don't want to to go, so I have been trying to make new, healthy choices, both intellectually and physically. It's not easy but I like the challenge and the new possibilities. I remember going through a similar change when I was 20, a bit harder when I am 58 but still do-able.

Anyway, just wanted to say that my day starts with you ladies, reading the posts and getting inspiration, even though I don't always recognize each and every one of you.

regards

Sarah

Sarah: After reading your post just now I had to comment...I think you are very wise to be looking for new friendships and connections with people who are moving in the direction that you want to go...I think the most successful stategy to getting older is to keep making new friends and trying new things. Easier said than done, I admit. I have moved often during my married life and find myself "tired" of putting myself out there over and over again, but it is important to do it! Your cross country group sounds fun and healthy. I am impressed and need to do better myself in this regard. I read the book "The Happiness Project" (I think that's the right title) and it really lays out a map similar to what you are doing as the path to being "Happy". Keep us posted on your "Path"...I like it!:flowerforyou:

Good night again! kackie

@kackie.. I was unhappy with some parts of my life and I started to look for ways to make myself happier, It was reading The Happiness Project that started me on my goal setting journey. I read it last fall and started to implement the goals in November. I had already started working out a couple of years ago and had lost some weight, but I was slipping back. Usually we over eat or (insert bad behaviour here) because we are not happy with some aspects of our life. We can't change overnight, but we can make several and sometimes small changes, over time, that make us feel happier and therefore, less dependent on our go to comforts. I am not always successful, but I keep on trying.

Sarah

Sarah, you sound like me talking. I relate so much to what you said. After 6 years of being stuck in a rut, I've just recently started to venture out. Most of my friends have moved out of the area but I have lots of family nearby so it was easy to stay in my cocoon. I finally kick-started my social life by joining several Meetup groups - a couple of book clubs and some walking and hiking groups. I think my kids are glad although "grandma" is not as available to them as she used to be! As soon as I finish up here, I'm going to look at The Happiness Project. It must be worthwhile since both you and Kackie (who is one of the most awesome of the old-timers here - not old, mind you, just an old-timer!) mentioned it.

Mimi SVQ

Virginia, the Glamour Shots are gorgeous! Your transformation is absolutely amazing!!

Thanks for sharing the pics.
Linda

Just checking in while it is still Sunday.

Went to my lace group meeting this afternoon with my GF and then we went to see DBF in the hospital. He sounded a little slurry today, but perhaps he'd had too much meds or was just a bit bored. He'd been for a couple of walks which is good - very quiet on weekends with no physio organized so it is good to see that he is, at last taking the initiative to get on with things.

My GF and I made supper when we came home and then she left about 9:30 to be home in time for her sister to call her with news of her mum, also in hospital. She is going back to London, Ontario tomorrow and I'll drive her to the station for the train.

It is holiday day here tomorrow, so no aquafit or Spanish class. I'm taking DBF's brother for a visit in the afternoon.

And now to bed.....

This article on muscle loss was in the paper today. We don't necessarily have to lose muscle as we age...it's a use it or lose it thing. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/fitness/exercise/fitness-research/with-muscles-use-it-or-lose-it-rings-true/article2342273/

:flowerforyou: Happy Monday,

Just spend 45 min reading the post, no time left to comment....everyone have a good day:flowerforyou: drink your water and let's keep moving.

Virginia awesome pictures, we all hope to join you some day.

The weekend had it's ups and downs and now am glad that I'm back to the work routine...just glad for the routine NOT the work part

Laura

Not sure if any of you have seen this or not, but Robert Lustig gives a life-changing speech called "Sugar: The Bitter Truth", you can watch it on youtube. It's fairly long, but really worth watching. Goes into detail about HFCS, obesity, fat storage, etc.

Good day, I'm off to the track.
:^) jb
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Thanks for sharing this. I will definately watch it.

I was also reading about blood sugar spikes, and liked where someone said to always "eat a protein when you eat a carb". Like peanut butter with apple, cottage cheese with peaches, chicken with rice, etc. Balances the blood sugar levels. Makes good sense.


I have heard this too. I can't say I always remeber to do it. Have you noticed any impact on your motivation??